I received this letter today from a 24 year old man in Brazil who is, apparently, a fan of mine. I don’t often get fan mail, so I thought I’d reproduce it here. Note that it is hand written in cursive, and I can’t quite decipher a few words. I also think that English may not be Pedro’s native language, so there are a few grammatical errors, but what the hey. How many fan letters to do you get?
Hello Mr. Preston Poulter,
My name is Pedro. I’m 24 and a big fan of the Magic: the Gathering card game. I enjoy this game so much as I enjoy legendary players like you, man. I don’t know if it’s your correct address. I’ve been trying to find duelist’s addresses I admire to write to them (like you) but it’s so hard to find. The only 1 I found (I guess) is yours.
All of you contributed to build my love for this game and have a happier life playing it with friends and family. I used to build my own personal decks, but I used to copy the strongest duelists decks to make me feel more powerful. With movies and rock-n-roll, Magic is the one thing that’s part of my life and people like you make us, our fans, see you as idols and people that transform the game in serious ways. So I’d like to congratulate you, first because I love your 1996 deck, and, second, because I write to everyone that takes part and contributes for the expansion of this lifestyle everyday, since my brother, the players that are more close to me, until Mr. Richard Garfield, that answered to me twice (always kindly).
And, as a great appreciator of this funny game, I’d wanna ask you something: could you please sign these 06 cards and give them back to me?? I’ve included $3 for it. Because of the work (I’m a safety technician) and the family (I got married in Oct. 2009) I don’t have much time to play now, but when I can, I do it. So, because of it I review my Magic collection of signed cards, a practice that makes me happy to get exclusive cards and, more than this, bring to you, artists of this game, my admiration and attention to thank you for all you do for your fans.
When you can/ have time/ want to answer, my address is: REDACTED
Thanks again, now for opening my letter and reading it. Now my goal is almost finished, only waiting for your answer when you wish.
All the best from your Brazilian fan,
Pedro
It’s always weird getting these letters from the past. They’re addressed to me, but really, the person they’re written to doesn’t exist any more. He was a 22 year old Graduate Student in Chemistry who’s only real love seemed to be hanging out with his friends (none of whom I talk to anymore) and playing Magic: the Gathering. Still, it always makes me smile to get them and to think back on that time. My life is a lot happier now. Fame is a strange thing and I’ve always considered myself lucky to have found that out by having it in so limited a capacity.
Didn’t know you play Magic. Were you some kind of US champ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering_Pro_Tour_season_1996
Check out the final standings of the first two Pro Tours ever.
wow. didn’t know that. why did you stop playing?
It stopped being a rewarding experience. Magic players became increasingly rude, egotistical and immature.
Not to mention the fact that every constructed tournament became — and still is — about who can cheat the best.
Wow, bitter words.. and you couldn’t be more wrong.
“Professional” MtG has come a long way. Nowadays the judging is superb, players more mature, and cheaters scarce.
I’d have to disagree with you Jim. I saw the average age of the Magic player continually decrease as the Pro Tour started from late 20s to early 20s and late teens. With age tends to come maturity and, of course, the inverse. I remember years later trying to help a local card store run “Friday Night Magic” and have a Pro Tour wanna be openly accuse me of trying to cheat the system by somehow engineering the tournament to pad my rating.
A friend of mine later invited me to try picking up magic cards again to play at a team sealed deck and the players were mostly rather rude, immature jerks. V:TES because it has a much older player base is far more mature, and, in my opinion, a far more enjoyable game because of it. The multiplayer nature of the game means that you will tend to lose far more than you win which means you enter each game with the expectation that, if things tend to run their course, you probably won’t win. This is a far cry different from Magic where every player expects to win the game unless the got unlucky and seem to come unglued if they can’t achieve the game dominant position their deck was designed to achieve.
I’m never, ever going back to Magic.